SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE
- All three Louisville rowing boats advance to finals
- Emmonnie Henderson finishes 31st in shot
- Did you see that?
The Cards varsity 4 squad (Chiara Ponko, Paula Gollnick, Kylie Noltemeyer, Kara Savegnago and Maddy Staubitz) finished second in their semifinal...losing to UCLA by just three seconds.
UofL's second varsity 8 crew (Sophie St. Martin, Abbie Wade, Amy Van Syoc, Lizzie DeVries, Cynthia Doyle, Kylen Patterman, Hanna Spittel, Marissa Thalen and Katie Nord) chased Indiana to the finish line...finishing second to the Hoosiers by five seconds.
The first varsity 8 team (Andrea Zorn, Elise Valentine, Lucy Wilshier, Morgan Dunham, Hannah Ritter, Darya Marchanka, Amanda Zaino, Jami Montesano and Sam Sinnett) rowed to a third place finish in the semis...six seconds behind UCLA and only two and a half second behind Washington State. Competition starts early today...the varsity 4 crew hits the water at 8:40 a.m., second varsity 8 goes at 9 a.m. and first varsity starts rowing at 9:20 a.m.
* * * * *
Cardinal Brittany Owens qualified for the NCAA Champonships in Eugene, OR in the long jump.
* * * * *
I know, we usually don't cover UK sports here at the Couple...unless they're competing against Louisville... but we just couldn't help commenting on the Cats 8-7 loss in NCAA Softball's WCWS in Oklahoma City. Up 7-0 on Baylor after five innings...it looked like the Bears just might be in danger of being "run-ruled".
Not so fast, my friends...
The Bears touched UK starter Kelsey Nunley for three runs in the sixth. After a scoreless UK top of the seventh, the Bears put four more on the board to take it to extra innings.
The Cats went scoreless in the top of the eight and Baylor used a bottom of the eight opening double and infield grounder that turned into a throwing error to get in improbable 8-7 win with no outs.
Tough way to bow out of the World Series...you just gotta question UK softball head coach Rachel Lawson and her pitching coach's decision to continue with the dead arm on Nunley. Rise balls that weren't, curves that didn't, change ups that were hitting the dirt and way too many fast balls right over the middle of the plate that the Bears were swatting all over the outfield. paulie
You are exactly right. Watched the game last night and I was screaming at the screen. I think coach Dan McDonnell almost did the same thing in Cardinal baseball.
ReplyDeleteNunley gave it her best. She deserved the choice to stay in or not . That error at second on a routine ground ball made the difference. UK got further than UofL.
ReplyDeleteOak Tree Swing
Whether UK made it further than UofL has absolutely no bearing on the issue that was in today's post. The UK coach blew it. The pitcher does not deserve "the choice to stay in or not." That is a coaching decision.
ReplyDeleteI give her a huge hand for sticking with her pitcher....who brought them there. That error on second was just terrible. I don't think that Nunley told the coach she wasn't coming out. It WAS a coaching decision to leave her in the game. Good for the coach in making that decision to stand by her player. Hint: maybe other coaches could do better if they built some confidence in their players.
ReplyDelete